Common Name: Wood Lily

General Information

Lilium philadelphicum is a herbaceous perennial bulbiferous plant producing a leafy stem up to 120cm tall[].
The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a food, medicine and as an ingredient in commercial cosmetic preparations. The plant is commonly grown as an ornamental.

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

, ,

Range

Eastern and central N. America - British Colombia to Ontario, south through Montana and New Mexico to Texas, and through Maine to Georgia

Habitat

Tallgrass prairies, open woods, thickets, roadsides, powerlines, barrens, dunes, and heathlands, mountain meadows; at elevations up to 2,700 metres[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Habit	Bulb
Height	1.00 m
Pollinators	Butterflies
Self-fertile	No
Cultivation Status	Ornamental, Wild

Cultivation Details

Lilium philapelphicum is a very cold-hardy plant, able to tolerate temperatures down to around -30°c when fully dormant[].
Requires a well-drained humus-rich soil and a cool moist root run[, , ]. Likes a warm position with moisture in summer[]. The plant appears to be rather variable in its requirements - in the west of its range it is often found in heavy, often somewhat alkaline, meadows to montane forest[], whilst in the east it is said to inhabit drier woodlands on acid sandy loams[, ].
Stoloniferous[]. Plants are rather difficult to establish[]. Early to mid autumn is the best time to plant out the bulbs in cool temperate areas, in warmer areas they can be planted out as late as late autumn[].
A very ornamental plant[], it requires protection from rain in winter[].
Lilium philadelphicum is highly variable in stature, leaf size and arrangement, flower colour, and fruit length[].
The plant should be protected against rabbits and slugs in early spring. If the shoot tip is eaten out the bulb will not grow in that year and will lose vigour[].

Edible Uses

Bulb - cooked[]. Used as a potato substitute[, , , ]. Starchy and slightly sweet[]. Rather small, it is up to 25mm in diameter[]. The bulb can be 16 - 29mm x 22 - 47mm; it is made up of many imbricate, fleshy leaf scales, without a tunic[, ].

Medicinal

A tea made from the bulbs is used in the treatment of stomach complaints, coughs, fevers etc[, ]. The crushed bulb is applied externally as a poultice to swellings, bruises, wounds, sores etc[, ].

A poultice of the flowers is applied to spider bites[].

Other Uses

An extract of the flowers is used as an ingredient in commercial cosmetic preparations as a masking agent[]. A somewhat strange report, since the Flora of N. America says that the flowers are not fragrant[].

Propagation

Seed - immediate epigeal germination[]. Sow thinly in pots from late winter to early spring in a cold frame. Should germinate in 2 - 4 weeks[]. One report suggests that the seed might have delayed hypogeal germination[]. In this case it would be best to sow the seed as soon as it is ripe in a cold frame because stored seed would require a warm/cold/warm cycle of stratification before the seed would germinate[]. Great care should be taken in pricking out the young seedlings, many people prefer to leave them in the seed pot until they die down at the end of their second years growth. This necessitates sowing the seed thinly and using a reasonably fertile sowing medium. The plants will also require regular feeding when in growth. Divide the young bulbs when they are dormant, putting 2 - 3 in each pot, and grow them on for at least another year before planting them out into their permanent positions when the plants are dormant[].
Division with care in the autumn once the leaves have died down. Replant immediately[].
Bulb scales can be removed from the bulbs in early autumn. If they are kept in a warm dark place in a bag of moist peat, they will produce bulblets. These bulblets can be potted up and grown on in the greenhouse until they are large enough to plant out[].